There’s a whole lot of hubbub around decaf coffee these days. Some believe it’s the arch-nemesis of high-quality coffee, others believe it’s unhealthy to consume no matter what. But we’re not so negative here at JavaPresse.

In fact, we believe specialty decaf coffee is worth falling in love with.

There’s some truth to the rumors about decaf coffee, but we’re not talking about just any decaffeinated beans in this blog. We’re talking about beans that have been grown, processed, decaffeinated, roasted, and brewed with care and passion.

Let’s take a look at why high-quality specialty decaf is worth exploring.

1. It’s Decaffeinated Without Chemicals

Nobody likes cancer-causing coffee, for obvious reasons. That’s why trichloroethylene, one of the first chemicals used to decaffeinate coffee, has fallen out of use since it was discovered to be a cancer-causing agent in the 70’s.

Read: Coffee And Health: The Good And The Bad

However, the two modern chemicals used to decaffeinate coffee, ethyl acetate and ethylene chloride, don’t have spotless records either. Though the research is less conclusive with these two, would you just rather avoid them and not have to worry about it?

Introducing, the Swiss Water Process!

This innovative approach to decaffeinating coffee doesn’t use any chemical other than good ol’ H2O. That’s right—only water. This method is a patented process by Coffex, a Swiss coffee company, though the actual decaffeination facility is in Canada.

Green coffee beans are soaked in the water to create a sort of “green coffee extract” that has all the flavors, oils, acids, and even caffeine. That extract is sent through a carbon filter that catches the caffeine but lets everything else through. The beans then reabsorb the extract and flavors, but this time without caffeine.

Swiss Water decaf coffee is now the standard in the global specialty coffee industry. It’s clean, it produces very little waste, and it uses no chemicals whatsoever.

Read: Why You Need To Be Drinking Coffee Black (And How To Start)

2. You Can Drink It At Night

Don’t you hate that tension of wanting to drink coffee at night but also wanting to have a good night’s rest? You can’t have them both—unless you’re drinking decaf coffee.

The effects of caffeine on your sleep are well documented. Basically, it ruins our nights if had right before bed, but even a cup of coffee 4-5 hours before going to sleep can cause you to lose sleep quality.

However, to be legally labeled ‘decaf coffee’, the beans have to lose at least 97% of their caffeine. So while they’re not exactly 100% caffeine-free, they won’t be causing you to toss and turn for a few hours at night.

Now you can enjoy a coffee nightcap. No guilt required.

3. It’s Good For Sensitive Stomachs

Does the acidity of coffee ever upset your stomach? That’s a bummer, but decaf coffee can help you here.

You see, the stomach acid issue isn’t actually because coffee has too much acid. The issue arises because your stomach produces extra acid when it comes in contact with caffeine.

So yes, it is often an excess of acid that causes upset stomach after coffee. But no, it’s not because of the coffee acids themselves. It’s the caffeine. But is there a way to enjoy coffee without the discomfort?

Read: 3 Reasons Coffee Upsets Your Stomach (And What To Do About It)

Of course, that’s what this whole blog’s about: decaffeinated coffee! 97% less caffeine means your stomach doesn’t respond by creating too much acid. Thus, no stomach ache.

4. You Can Enjoy It All Day, Jitter-less

I don’t know about you, but coffee sometimes gives me the shakes. My fingers wiggling uncontrollable and I can’t hold things like pencils still. It’s annoying, it’s embarrassing, and it always follows days when I’ve drunk more coffee than normal.

But sometimes I want to drink coffee all day. It tastes delicious, after all.

Decaf coffee gives you an avenue to enjoy the rich flavors of coffee without having to suffer the consequences of over-caffeination. If you have issues holding back when it comes to coffee (or if you just like an extra cup now and then), give decaf a try. Your fingers won’t be jittering all over the place after the fourth cup.

Read: Should You Store Your Coffee Beans In The Freezer?

5. The Flavors Are Delicious As Ever

Ah, the biggest complaint with decaf coffee is that the flavors are never the same. That is true... for most decaffeination methods.

For other methods, like the Swiss Water process and the crazy-expensive CO2 process, it’s not true. Because these processes are so simple and don’t use solvents that cause changes in the coffee’s chemical makeup, they don’t cause much change in the flavor either.

Granted, not every coffee goes through the Swiss Water process and comes out as stellar as it used to be. Some beans, for whatever reason, come out a little on the flat side flavor-wise. But for the most part, Swiss Water beans don’t lose the magic.

Read: Skip The Coffee Aisle, Here's How To Find The World's Best Coffee

When I managed a coffee shop, I set up a coffee tasting for my baristas that included five coffees from our roaster, one of which was decaf. We blind tasted and scored them. To our shock, the Swiss Water decaf was our #2 favorite out of five.

There are some amazing specialty decaf coffees out there. They’re not a waste of beans, a waste of money, or an automatically “lower” form of coffee. They’re fresh, they’re flavorful, and they’re worth exploring.

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Want to be able to drink late a night without consequences? Want to enjoy a mug without that stomach discomfort? Want to savor the flavor without the jitters?

It sounds like you need to try a bag of specialty decaf coffee.

Our JavaPresse Coffee Club sends subscribers freshly roasted, specialty-grade coffees every other week. Right now we don’t have decaf coffee as an option, but we’re working on it and plan on offering our first Swiss Water decaf coffee in the next few months (sign up for the email newsletter and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available).